1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to devices for use when removing wheels from a motor vehicle, and more particularly to devices for removing a wheel from a truck.
2. Related Art
It is often necessary to remove wheels from trucks during repair or maintenance. For example, wheels routinely are removed to change a tire or to gain access to the brakes that are located behind the wheels. Unfortunately, the wheel removal process can be difficult for a variety of reasons.
First, the wheels, and the inner wheel in particular, fit tightly onto the wheel hub that sits on the end of the axle. Because the tolerance between the circumference of the wheel rim and the wheel hub is very small and the weight of the truck is supported by the wheel hub, wheels have a tendency to become stuck or seized on the hub. This may occur for any type of wheel, including inner wheels, outer wheels, stud-piloted wheels, hub-mounted wheels and the like.
During a typical wheel removal process, the mechanic will remove the lug nuts securing the wheel to the truck (usually with an impact wrench) and remove the wheel by hand. Once seized to the hub, wheels are very difficult—if not impossible—to remove by hand. Instead, mechanics typically bang on the stuck wheel with a sledgehammer until the wheel comes loose. This process is problematic for several reasons. There is little space between the inner and outer wheels and between the wheels and the other components of the truck. Because of these limitations and because the mechanic may need to swing the sledgehammer at awkward angles, the risk of injury to the mechanic is ever present. Damage to the wheel or other parts of the truck also is a concern, especially for aluminum rimmed tires. In addition, it often takes many swings to dislodge a seized wheel—each swing poses an independent risk to the mechanic, the wheel and the rest of the truck.
Furthermore, this method for removing the seized wheel is frequently unsuccessful, even after an extended period of hammering on the seized wheel. In such a case, it is necessary to remove from the axle the wheel hub and wheel together, and then attempt to separate the hub and wheel when the wheel is off of the truck. This creates significant extra work for the mechanic, who must subsequently replace the hub on the axle.
While there are a number of devices which can be used to pull wheels or other devices from an axle, they suffer from various problems. For example, most devices use the hub itself for leverage and push off the hub. However, hub shapes are not universal, making it difficult to use these devices on all wheels. Moreover, the forces generated during the removal process can damage the hub. Other devices use hydraulic mechanisms to remove the wheel. Because these forces can be substantial, the wheel and removal device itself may literally be shot across the garage, posing an even greater risk of injury to the mechanic, the wheel, and the truck than the sledgehammer.
Accordingly, a need has long existed for improved devices and methods for removing a wheel.